In any event, we do not want to see the close-up overdone.
We don't want too much of the Griffith staccato. It leads to what a
certain friend of mine once called Tom Lawson's method of
muck-raking--'The method of universal emphasis.'"
It is interesting to note in the first paragraph of the quotation from
Mr. Merwin's letter that he advocates giving, in most pictures, "the
first few hundred feet" to a proper introduction of the characters and
to laying the foundation, as it were, for the story proper. This is in
marked contrast to the method of a few years ago, when one-reel
pictures were the rule, and when very little footage could be spared
for such introductory scenes. Today, with very much longer pictures,
there is no excuse for any writer's ever feeling himself cramped for
room in which to make clear everything that the spectator ought to
know in connection with his characters and his plot.
Finally, in connection with the _story_, as written by you, and the
_picture_, as put on by the director, we again quote Mr. Sargent:
"If you _need_ a close-up, write it in, numbering it as a separate
scene. If you do not need a close-up, don't write one in, even though
you see innumerable close-ups used. Let the director make these as his
fancy or judgment may dictate.
Pages:
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199